Men's higher TB burden may stem from greater exposure, not disease progression
Men are more likely than women to catch tuberculosis (TB), finds a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers. Globally, men account for around two-thirds of people diagnosed with TB, but until now, the reasons for this disparity had remained unclear.
A study led by UCL researchers has found that men are more likely to contract tuberculosis (TB) than women, not because the disease progresses differently in men, but because they have greater exposure to the infection. Globally, men account for around two-thirds of those diagnosed with TB. The researchers analyzed data from over 22,000 participants across 11 studies in 14 countries, finding that men were more likely to have a latent TB infection at the start of the study.
This suggests they had been exposed to the TB bacteria more frequently throughout their lives. However, once this infection status was taken into account, there was no significant difference in the likelihood of men developing active TB disease compared to women. Dr. Yohhei Hamada, co-first author, explained that their findings suggest that reducing TB exposure among men could have a larger impact on narrowing the sex gap in TB burden than interventions aimed solely at the progression from infection to disease.
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